/*    Copyright 2010 Tobias Marschall
 *
 *    This file is part of MoSDi.
 *
 *    MoSDi is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 *    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 *    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 *    (at your option) any later version.
 *
 *    MoSDi is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 *    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 *    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 *    GNU General Public License for more details.
 *
 *    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 *    along with MoSDi.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */

package mosdi.util.iterators;

import java.util.Iterator;

/** Common interface for iterators that iterate over strings of equal length
 *  in lexicographical order. */
public interface LexicographicalIterator extends Iterator<int[]> {

	/** Gives the string that will be returned by next call to next(). */
	public abstract int[] peek();

	/** Advance to next character at given position, that means a subsequent call
	 *  to next() will return the next string in lexicographical order, such that
	 *  leftmostChangedPosition<=position. */
	public abstract void skip(int position);

	/** Returns the leftmost position that changed when the last returned
	 *  string was generated. */
	public abstract int getLeftmostChangedPosition();

	public abstract int getStringLength();
}
